Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/312

 256 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS Probably each court day produced as many new cases as it settled. Amid such a turbulent population the public prosecutor must needs be a man of nerve and re source. It was a state of chronic riot, in which he must be ever ready to court danger. Jackson proved himself quite equal to the task of introduc ing law and order in so far as it depended on him. &quot;Just inform Mr. Jackson,&quot; said Gov. Blount when sundry malfeasances were reported to him; &quot;he will be sure to do his duty, and the offender will be punished.&quot; Besides the lawlessness of the white pioneer population, there was the enmity of the Indians to be reckoned with. In the immediate neighborhood of Nashville the Indians murdered, on the average, one person every ten days. From 1788 till 1795 Jackson performed the journey of nearly two hundred miles between Nashville and Jonesboro twenty-two times ; and on these occasions there were many alarms from Indians, which some times grew into a forest campaign. In one of these affairs, having nearly lost his life in an adventur ous feat, Jackson made the characteristic remark: &quot;A miss is as good as a mile; you see how near I can graze danger.&quot; It was this wild experience that prepared the way for Jackson s eminence as an Indian-fighter. In the autumn of 1794 the Cherokees were so thoroughly punished by Gen. Robertson s famous Nickajack expedition that